Red flags in the first sentence: "We are a community of meditators and wizards, a gathering of people and entities, a curious glitch in your perception which shouldn’t be there and yet it is."

Aggrandizement. It's a manipulation strategy based on building up egos. "You are special if you're one of our group".

Think about Jehovah's witnesses, "We are the Chosen ones".Think about the inner circle of cults. "Only the Best students get to see the grand supreme master teach".

And conversely if you leave the group you are no longer special, so your ego will be deflated if you leave.

"You can either take a magical journey with us, or just explore the website out of curiosity. The choice is yours, but in any case, the world will never be the same for you after that. "Promises promises. Think about Scientology therapies promising a radical transformation, not entailing what it is, but leaving the ball in your court where your only choice is do nothing, or give in".

"He is also a hypnotherapist" which comes in handy if you're starting a cult.

"In early 2012 he decided to formally distance himself from the Tibetan Buddhist establishment, in order to be able to work effectively with his students, teaching gradually a new cycle of Dharma teachings "i.e. he felt rejected because people didn't give into his personal opinions which surely must be superior because he's a modern Caucasian.

"Lama Ivo is currently residing in southern Mexico with a small group of students, as the head of the Sky Dharma Community." Where people won't know enough to recognize what's wrong with what he says.

Yet another wacko with a great white guru / messiah complex who's going to try to revolutionize the Dharma to fit with his own trippy neurotic ideas. Someone translate these posts into Spanish along with all the names he uses so people will be able to read it in Spanish.

If there is a radical inconsistency between your statements and the position you claim to hold,you are a sock puppet.Make as many accounts as you want; people can identify your deception with this test.

People with a legitimate dharma motivation to teach don't build personality cults, they build cults around the Buddha's teachings.

People with legitimate dharma motivation to teach fade into the background as much as possible and put the focus on the teachings and practice.

They defer the praise and respect directed at them towards their teachers.

These wackos possessed with craving for reputation and identity are easy to recognize once you know what I have written.

If there is a radical inconsistency between your statements and the position you claim to hold,you are a sock puppet.Make as many accounts as you want; people can identify your deception with this test.

Thanks for the clarification, Michael--sorry for being oversensitive. And thanks everyone.

Disjointed wrote:

"He is also a hypnotherapist" which comes in handy if you're starting a cult.

Maybe less than you think. I see no reason to suppose that hypnosis actually works. On the other hand, people are more suggestible than we usually realize, so it all evens out.

i.e. he felt rejected because people didn't give into his personal opinions which surely must be superior because he's a modern Caucasian.

More likely, he intuited that in a traditional setting, the personal opinions of modern Tibetans would always be considered superior to his.

Things on Lama Ivo's website that give me pause include his decision to continue the practice of guru-devotion, including the requirement not to criticize the guru. And then there are remarks like these:

(From Lama Ivo's website:)

Also, a student can drop out at any stage by his/her own wish, but would lose the privilege to attend any further teachings and activities.

You can find our community and this website beneficial if: [...] 5. You have had an OBE, NDE, ET or other ‘unusual’ experiences and know that there is much more to the picture than what meets the eye. [...] 7. You do not like to watch television, do not subscribe to the consensus world-view. [...] 9. You have memories of past lives or have done past life regression sessions. [...]

[BUT NOT IF] 1. You feel that working for a career makes sense. 2. You trust the news media, and think that our society is doing generally well. [...] 8. You believe Stephen Hawking. [...]

As I remember him Ivo showed no sign of being a wacko, he was very down to earth actually. The only thing fanatical about him was his defense of the Nyingma schools tenets and practices. So I feel very surprised about his leaving the traditional teachers and teachings behind him. Would be very interesting to hear him explain what happened, his site is not exactly clear on this subject.

/magnus

"To reject practice by saying, 'it is conceptual!' is the path of fools. A tendency of the inexperienced and something to be avoided."- Longchenpa

In 2011 many highly unusual events rapidly unfolded, culminating in Ivo’s acceptance of the role of formal Buddhist teacher in the summer of that year, through the inspiration of H.H. Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, who passed away shortly after. From him Ivo received some precise and detailed final instructions on the future course of his life and activity (see: Breaking the Bond ). A year prior to these events Ivo had started to receive some new Dzogchen lineages as Da snang transmission, which involved very special practices, quite incompatible with the way the mainstream Tibetan Buddhist lineages have so far been disseminated in the West. All this finally led him to the decision to cut formal ties with the Tibetan Buddhist establishment, to sell his Dharma center and to invite his close students on a very unusual and challenging sailing adventure around the world (see: The Journey ). The purpose of that trip for him was partly to see which of his students were ready to take what would follow.

From my limited contact with him, Ivo seemed pretty straight forward and not a wacko. He did have a strong idea about hierarchy amongst practitioners, who was most experienced and who knew most or received the most teachings and that. My disagreement with him over his forum was around this issue with him projecting odd ideas about not being afforded the respect due to someone with lots of experience.

In 2011 many highly unusual events rapidly unfolded, culminating in Ivo’s acceptance of the role of formal Buddhist teacher in the summer of that year, through the inspiration of H.H. Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, who passed away shortly after. From him Ivo received some precise and detailed final instructions on the future course of his life and activity (see: Breaking the Bond ). A year prior to these events Ivo had started to receive some new Dzogchen lineages as Da snang transmission, which involved very special practices, quite incompatible with the way the mainstream Tibetan Buddhist lineages have so far been disseminated in the West. All this finally led him to the decision to cut formal ties with the Tibetan Buddhist establishment, to sell his Dharma center and to invite his close students on a very unusual and challenging sailing adventure around the world (see: The Journey ). The purpose of that trip for him was partly to see which of his students were ready to take what would follow.

From my limited contact with him, Ivo seemed pretty straight forward and not a wacko. He did have a strong idea about hierarchy amongst practitioners, who was most experienced and who knew most or received the most teachings and that. My disagreement with him over his forum was around this issue with him projecting odd ideas about not being afforded the respect due to someone with lots of experience.

Yes a bit odd considering he isn't even 40 yet and guys like for example Yeshe Dorje have been practicing longer than he have lived.

/magnus

"To reject practice by saying, 'it is conceptual!' is the path of fools. A tendency of the inexperienced and something to be avoided."- Longchenpa

These days there are people who are deceived by Mara into believing that they are discovering some teachings. People such as Seonaidh Perks, "Ngagpa" Chogyam and others (I am sure there are many more). Outwardly they may not appear mad and their conduct seems to be humble and down to earth, however inwardly they are mad, because they believe whatever visions they have to be true and they take them for a face value. Real tertons usually keep their discoveries secret for many years and do not broadcast them as soon as something popped up in their mind. Visions are just illusions, whether they are genuine pure visions or not. These days we have so many termas that there is a question whether it is really worth to reveal any new ones. So maybe it would be good for any new terton to first consider whether he clings to those visions or not and whether it is worth writing down anything that he might think of.

dzoki wrote:Real tertons usually keep their discoveries secret for many years and do not broadcast them as soon as something popped up in their mind.

That's not entirely true. Some lamas, Pema Lingpa and Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok spring to mind, made terma discoveries in public.

As did CTR.

Over the years I have met a number of teachers. In addition to my own teachers past and present a few have made a particular impression on me..They would include Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, the 16th Karmapa, and.........Ngagpa Chogyam.I am not making comparisons in terms of attainment ...just sayin'.

I think it is not possible to gauge another person's realisation. I remember a story when a western student was talking to Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. One of them said that one of the three was by far the most realised but nobody would ever know which one. I think it went something like that.

Simon E. wrote:Over the years I have met a number of teachers. In addition to my own teachers past and present a few have made a particular impression on me..They would include Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, the 16th Karmapa, and.........Ngagpa Chogyam.I am not making comparisons in terms of attainment ...just sayin'.

That's interesting. What was your impression of Ngagpa Chogyam?

Through Dzogchen we can really understand what God is and we don’t have to worry if there is a God or not. God always exists as our real nature, the base, for everybody. - Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

michaelb wrote:I think it is not possible to gauge another person's realisation. I remember a story when a western student was talking to Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. One of them said that one of the three was by far the most realised but nobody would ever know which one. I think it went something like that.

Absolutely. Particularly those who we only know about from the accounts of others.Even when meeting people in the flesh all we can do is be open to the possibilities.Sometimes the heart is touched. I was at a teaching from Kalu Rinpoche and at one point he stood at bowed to his listeners, and something in me responded way beyond the verbal.Its not all about logic and correctness.

Simon E. wrote:Over the years I have met a number of teachers. In addition to my own teachers past and present a few have made a particular impression on me..They would include Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, the 16th Karmapa, and.........Ngagpa Chogyam.I am not making comparisons in terms of attainment ...just sayin'.

That's not to say that there are some lamas I wouldn't take teachings from due to stuff I have heard about them from others. They may be crazy mahasiddhas abusing their students to purify their karma, but I have no interest in getting myself into that kind of situation.

This thread is among the more interesting ones I've seen at DW for some time. And not only because I remember many positive interactions with "geko" at e-sangha (and now wonder which other usernames Kalushev had)

I suspect that because Kalushev is active online, he's likely to be aware of DW and perhaps even of this thread. If so, I'd like to encourage him to make some comment on this, with the assurance that moderators will give him a fair opportunity to present his perspective.

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